Dreams in tatters after accident

Hayley Sellars, a promising singer, is being treated in Burwood Spinal Unit. Photo / Supplied

A freak horse accident has left a Wanganui schoolgirl with serious injuries in Burwood Spinal Unit in Christchurch.

Hayley Sellars' dreams of a professional singing career were now in doubt after she was crushed underneath her horse two weeks ago. Hayley, 16, was joining a hunt in the hills near Kai Iwi with local jockey Lisa Allpress and a group of hunting enthusiasts.

Just before she was to start, her horse Jacko had a heart attack. The horse fell and rolled on top of the teenager.

Stepfather Paul Sellars said yesterday that Hayley immediately clambered to her feet, distraught that her horse had died.

"She was more upset about Jacko than herself."

The accident left Hayley with five fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, a lacerated kidney, two injured vertebrae in her neck and three in her lumbar region.

"She's flat on her back. She can watch a television in the ceiling and she's able to send text messages," Sellars said.

The Wanganui Girls' College student loved to sing and dreamt of becoming a professional opera singer, Sellars said.

Since she was 11 Hayley has sung in shows, including Bugsy Malone, Les Miserables, and Grease.

Mum Wendy said it was a tough time because it would be weeks before many medical questions could be answered. Even though Hayley couldn't move she was trying to sing, she said. "She doesn't have full lung capacity but she can sing. It's amazing."